A federal judge Friday ordered federal prosecutors to respond to the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts' request to unseal any secret court documents that may exist surrounding the government's interest in unlocking an iPhone belonging to an alleged Boston gang member.

The order, entered without further comment by U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs, directsfederal prosecutors to file a response to the ACLU by April 11.

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The state branch of the ACLU Thursday filed a motion asking the court to unseal any records related to the government's request to unlock the phone. There is nothing in the public docket indicating that there was a formal application for a search warrant, a judge's ruling on that, any response from Apple and any update from the federal government as to whether they still need Apple's help unlocking the phone.

"Transparency is more important now than ever," Jessie Rossman of the ACLU-Massachusetts told 5 Investigates' Karen Anderson Thursday.

There is an affidavit filed by a Boston FBI agent saying he needed an order to compel Apple to help unlock an iPhone belonging to Desmond Crawford, an alleged member of the Columbia Point Dawgz, but it's not clear what, if anything, happened after that.

Court documents portray the Columbia Point Dawgz as the biggest and most feared street gang in Boston, with a trail of murder going back decades. Crawford, they say, was likely involved in a March 27, 2015, drive-by shooting of the leader of the rival Greenwood Street gang, a claim his lawyer denies.

The affidavit, signed by agent Matthew Knight, says Crawford's phone will likely contain evidence for their racketeering case against Crawford.

In a court filing Friday, the ACLU says it wants more information.

"We don't know if the government has asked for the ability to be able to tell Apple that it has unlock the phone in the Crawford case, we don't know if the court gave the government the ability to be able to force Apple to do that in the Crawford case. That's the kind of information that our motion seeks to make public," Rossman said.

The ACLU has found 62 similar cases across the country but says the filing in the Crawford case is especially cryptic, with no mention made in the publicly accessible docket about several key points such as if a judge ever ruled on whether to order Apple to unlock the phone or not.

"The government is trying to retreat back into the shadows with respect to this very important public debate and the public needs to be able to hold them accountable," Rossman said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office declined comment, citing the ongoing case.